Chapter 31: Encounter with a Powerful Enemy

  Some people say that since the outbreak of war, all you can see in the North Sea are British and German warships. Zhang Haino found this statement not entirely correct, because on the second day after U171 left Wilhelmshaven, he encountered another massive man-made object in the northern part of the North Sea - an airship!

  Unfortunately, the airship's style and color indicated that it came from enemy Britain; The lucky thing is that the airship basically did not pose a direct threat to the submarines sailing on the sea surface. It tried to drop two small bombs, but they fell thousands of meters away from the three German submarines!

  Compared with Zhang Hainuo's calmness, Deputy Captain Simon Platins was somewhat anxious and uneasy.

  "What bad luck! We hadn't even left the North Sea before being discovered by the British!"

  "Don't worry, Simon! It can't hurt us, at most it can only report our situation back to the base! After nightfall, we can easily shake it off!"

  After obtaining the other party's consent, Zhang Haino affectionately called this U171 veteran "Simon". The experience on U21 made Zhang Haino believe that shaking off a group of British warships without listening to them was not a difficult task. Helson's tactics were strange but very effective.

  "Ensign, you don't know! The last time we were in the North Sea off Scotland, a blimp just like that one spotted us. It can't sink us directly, but it will soon bring a swarm of British destroyers! Last time, we were attacked by 5 British destroyers. If U116 hadn't appeared and sunk one of them at the last minute, we would have been sent to the bottom of the sea!"

  "So that's how it was! Simon, don't worry, now we have three submarines. If the British come, we'll give them a nice ambush! By the way, can you tell me about the battle?"

  Recalling a painful defeat, especially one in which close comrades had fallen, required courage of anyone; and Simon was clearly that kind of man. He collected his thoughts for a moment before speaking:

  "That day was a fine day, visibility on the sea surface was very good, we were heading back to land. We were discovered by British airships around 10 am when we were over 160 nautical miles north of the Pass of Balmaha in northern Scotland, planning to cross the British blockade line into the North Sea at night!"

  "At around 2 pm, a British destroyer appeared in front of our route, at which time there was only one torpedo left on the boat. The captain immediately ordered the submarine to dive, and those British destroyers couldn't find us, so they just fired randomly on the surface. We stayed underwater for about 2 hours before surfacing to periscope depth to observe. At that time, those British destroyers were no longer in sight, so we surfaced with ease to recharge. Unexpectedly, that British seaplane had been monitoring the sea nearby all along, and those British destroyers hadn't gone far either - they quickly came back!"

  "We dived again in an emergency, but this time the British destroyer opened fire before we could fully dive, and a hail of shells rained down, one of which just happened to destroy our periscope. Without the periscope, the submarine was like a blind man underwater, and our situation became very passive! When we were forced to surface due to oxygen depletion... Alas! The captain was killed on the spot, five gunners died, four in the torpedo room died, and at that time we thought it was all over for us. Fortunately, U116 arrived just in time!"

  Zhang Hainuo patted Simon's shoulder, and the young military officer with a black mustache had a deep sadness and anger etched on his face.

  "Storm!" Zhang Haino shouted to the communications soldier on the boat, "Send a flag signal to U89 and U145, that British airship may bring in British destroyers, ask them what they mean, whether to dive now to avoid or wait for the British to come and ambush them!"

  "Yes!" The tall and thin Storm was about to send a flag signal, but suddenly stopped.

  "Ensign, U-89 is signaling us! They... they say three submarines are separating and the British airship doesn't know which one to follow!"

  "What?" Zhang Hainuo didn't disbelieve his ears or Storm's eyes, but this method did seem a bit stupid - proactively dispersing their forces would only make them more passive when encountering the enemy!

  "Tell them I suggest the three submarines act together; if British destroyers come, we'll take care of them collectively!"

  This is Zhang Hainuo's most authentic idea. He used to think that the German submarines during World War I were far inferior to those in World War II, but after entering the Kiel Naval Academy to study submarine specialization, he found himself wrong, and very wrong at that. In this era, Germany's diesel engine technology led the world, and although their attention to submarines as a weapon came later than Britain and France, they surpassed them in design and application! Their UB and UD series submarines are currently the most advanced attack submarines in the world, and apart from battery storage capacity and sonar wireless equipment, they are not weaker than some early World War II submarines.

  It is precisely because of these reasons that Zhang Hainuo believes that borrowing the wolf pack tactics that were popular more than 20 years ago in this era is completely feasible!

  "Alright!"

  Storm faithfully executed the command, and within two minutes, U-89 signaled back with a content that almost made Zhang Haino vomit blood:

  "Since there is no designated commander for submarine fleet navigation, follow my boat's orders!"

  Before departing, Zhang Haino had met the captain of U-89, a man in his thirties who was quite polite and courteous, but now it seemed that he was actually a conservative and even somewhat pedantic guy.

  Zhang Hainuo was very depressed, but he couldn't vent his anger. No matter how you looked at it, he had no right to point fingers at the lieutenant. After a while, he said angrily:

  "Let them ask for it!"

  More than ten minutes later, U-89 was the first to turn away and leave formation, and U-145 did not linger much either. Less than an hour later, the two low-profile German submarines disappeared into the vast depths of the sea.

  Zhang Hainuo looked up at the sky and saw that the airship hadn't turned to leave, it seemed that today its target was locked on him!

  Come on! One comes and one goes, two come and a pair goes!

  Zhang Haino was furious, a group of cowards, let me show you some essence of submarine tactics! I want to avenge the predecessors who died on U171, I want to let you know that the German Navy is not so easy to bully!

  Thinking of that time when U-21 sank three British destroyers with a single torpedo off Malta, Zhang Haino's confidence soared to unprecedented heights.

  Just after lunch, a small patch of black smoke finally appeared in the telescope. It was not a cloud from nature. As time passed, it got closer and thicker, and gray dots appeared on the western horizon.

  "Here, good!" Zhang Haino put down the binoculars in his hand. Here, a beautiful ambush was fought, and the victory of the first battle was decorated with a victorious halo. This is what he wants most at this moment.

  "British fleet appears on the port side, all compartments prepare for dive, check the status of each watertight door, prepare to dive in 5 minutes!"

  Zhang Hainuo calmly gave orders into the loudspeaker on the command tower, and at this moment, he felt that he had grasped Hersen's kind of coldness, which was a elegant calmness, as well as a disdain for the enemy and a proud confidence in oneself.

  At 13:40 on May 12, 1917, U-171 began to dive, and two minutes later, all parts of the boat, including the conning tower and periscope, were submerged, while a British anti-submarine squadron consisting of a light cruiser and three destroyers was approaching from several miles away on its starboard side.